A.3 Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session

During an installation, Oracle Universal Installer records all of the actions that it performs in a log file. If you encounter problems during the installation, then review the log file for information about possible causes of the problem.

To view the contents of the log file, follow these steps:

If necessary, enter the following command to determine the location of the oraInventory directory:

The inventory_loc parameter in this file specifies the location of the oraInventory directory.

Enter the following command to change directory to the Oracle Universal Installer log file directory, where orainventory_location is the location of the oraInventory directory:

$ cd /orainventory_location/logs

Enter the following command to determine the name of the log file:

$ ls -ltr

This command lists the files in the order of creation, with the most recent file shown last. Installer log files have names similar to the following, where date_time indicates the date and time that the installation started:

installActionsdate_time.log

To view the most recent entries in the log file, in which information about a problem is most likely to appear, enter a command similar to the following:

$ tail -50 installActionsdate_time.log | more

This command displays the last 50 lines in the log file.

If the error displayed by Oracle Universal Installer or listed in the log file indicates a relinking problem, then refer to the following file for more information:

$ORACLE_HOME/install/make.log

A.4 Troubleshooting Configuration Assistants

To troubleshoot an installation error that occurred when a configuration assistant was running:

Review the specific configuration assistant log file located in the $ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs directory. Try to fix the issue that caused the error.

If you see the Fatal Error. Reinstall message, then look for the cause of the problem by reviewing the log files. Refer to the "Fatal Errors" section for more information.

A.4.1 Configuration Assistant Failure

Oracle configuration assistant failures are noted at the bottom of the installation screen. The configuration assistant interface displays additional information, if available. The configuration assistant execution status is stored in the following file:

oraInventory_location/logs/installActionsdate_time.log

A.4.2 Fatal Errors

If you receive a fatal error while a configuration assistant is running, then you must remove the current installation and reinstall the Oracle software, as follows:

Manually remove the Oracle home directory created during the failed installation.

Reinstall the Oracle software.

A.6 Silent-Mode Response File Error Handling

To determine whether a silent-mode installation succeeds or fails, refer to the following log file:

/oraInventory_location/logs/silentInstalldate_time.log

If necessary, refer to the previous section for information about determining the location of the oraInventory directory.

A silent installation fails if:

You do not specify a response file

You specify an incorrect or incomplete response file

For example, a common problem is that while all the product-specific data is filled out correctly, the staging area location may be incorrect. If this is the case, check the FROM_LOCATION variable and ensure that it points to the products.xml file in the installation media. This products.xml file is in the response/stage directory of the installation media.

Oracle Universal Installer or configuration assistant validates the response file at run time. If the validation fails, the silent-mode installation or configuration process ends. Oracle Universal Installer treats values for parameters that are of the wrong context, format, or type as if no value was specified in the file.

Scripting on this page enhances content navigation, but does not change the content in any way.